Murphy delivers big hit for Yankees in 5-3 win over Orioles

BALTIMORE — A part-time player got a big-time double to help the New York Yankees avert a three-game sweep.

John Ryan Murphy had the Yankees' only hit in a three-run fifth inning, and New York received a strong performance from its bullpen in a 5-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

Mark Teixeira drove in a run and scored one as the first-place Yankees ended Baltimore's six-game winning streak.

New York trailed 3-2 before rallying in the fifth. After Orioles rookie Mike Wright (2-2) issued three straight walks — all on 3-and-2 pitches — to load the bases, Brian Matusz walked Garrett Jones with the count full to force in a run. Two outs later, Murphy bounced a two-run double off the glove of third baseman Manny Machado.

Murphy, New York's backup catcher, got three hits to raise his batting average 42 points to .250. He entered the game with four extra-base hits and three RBI.

"He did an outstanding job. He's a big reason we won today," manager Joe Girardi said.

Matusz was pitching for the first time since May 31 after serving an eight-game suspension for using a foreign substance while on the mound.

Batting eighth in a lineup that contains Alex Rodriguez, Teixeira and Brett Gardner, Murphy got the hit that mattered most. That it went in the direction of the 2013 Gold Glove winner made it just a little bit more dicey.

"I guess any time you hit the ball that way you expect it to be caught," Murphy said. "It was a tough play for him diving down the line. I hit it hard."

"You don't want to get swept. It's a division opponent," Girardi said. "We did not play well the first two days. We played much better today and didn't give them extra outs, and we won the game."

Nolan Reimold had two RBI for the Orioles, who managed only six hits after scoring 20 runs with 31 hits in their previous two games. Baltimore was seeking a seventh straight win for the first time since 2005.

"We made some headway over the last few games," Showalter said. "We've just got to keep grinding through it."

Four straight walks helped put a halt to the winning streak, but the Orioles had little to lament after taking three from Boston and two from the Yankees to start an eight-game homestand.

"Anytime you are able to win the series against a division rival, it's good," first baseman Chris Davis said. "I thought we played a pretty clean game for the most part. Didn't make a lot of mistakes, didn't make a lot of errors. We just got beat today."

Rodriguez went 0-for-4 with a walk for New York to remain five hits short of 3,000 for his career.

Teixeira drove in a first-inning run with an opposite-field double that hit the chalk in deep left. Reimold answered with a two-run single in the bottom half.

Three singles and a sacrifice fly by Brett Gardner tied it in the second.

Warren retired eight straight before Reimold walked to open the fourth and scored on a double by Caleb Joseph.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Yankees righthander Ivan Nova (elbow) pitched six innings Saturday for the team's Triple A affiliate in his second rehab start. "The report on him is that he threw OK," Girardi said. "His velocity was decent. His curveball maybe wasn't quite as sharp as we've seen it."

UP NEXT

Yankees: Rodriguez heads home to Miami, where New York will play a two-game series that begins Monday night. Masahiro Tanaka (4-1) starts for the Yankees.

Orioles: Wei-Yin Chen (2-4, 3.21 ERA) starts against the Philadelphia Phillies in an interleague game at Camden Yards.